I’m distracted this week by all the Thanksgiving dinner preparations.
Ha! Who am I kidding? My culinary contributions include bread-baking (kneading it myself, thankyouverymuch) and ordering a pumpkin pie. Then it’s over the freeway and through the palms, to a good friend’s house we go.
But in the meantime, I’m carving out some time to work on my revisions. I’m grateful for the many blessings I’ve received during my lifetime; but this week, I am making a special effort to be mindful of all the gifts that come of writing my story down. And also? I’m not ashamed to admit that I am actively seeking more.
Author Laraine Herring suggests that these deeper blessings come from the wellspring of self-awareness:
Self-awareness is the primary foundational principle of deep writing. Self-awareness is important because when you see yourself and your world from a place of nonjudgment and honesty, you can clearly see the areas you need to work on in your writing. If you don’t have a realistic picture (or refuse to look at one) of your strengths and weakneses, you’ll likely flounder longer than you need to. Every writer has strengths and weaknesses. No writer is perfect at all the components of writing. Acknowledge and honor the strengths and weaknesses of your own writing self and you’ll be well on the way to deepening your craft.
WRITING BEGINS WITH THE BREATH: Embodying Your Authentic Voice*
And so it is that I find myself greeting another new day…mindful of all that is, and grateful for all that’s yet to be.
The teakettle’s on, and I’m hoping we can spend some writing time together, fully present in each other’s presence. But if you don’t have time to stop by…HAPPY THANKSGIVING! I pray that you’ll be blessed with life’s abundance.
*Read my writing buddy’s online book review.
The self-awareness quote really rings true to me. I thought I had let go a lot of the perfectionism and control-freakiness that characterized my teens and early twenties, but doing revisions on my book taught me that I’m still clinging to some of that baggage. It’s hard to bring acceptance to a task that involves so much acknowledgment of what’s wrong and commitment to change it, but I did my best, and I know you can, too!
I like that this book invites me to think about these things. I believe it will help make me a better writer. And…thanks for the vote of confidence. Much as I’d like to detach from the need for approval/acceptance, I admit that it’s part and parcel of my writing experience.
So far, anyway.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!
The self-awareness quote really rings true to me. I thought I had let go a lot of the perfectionism and control-freakiness that characterized my teens and early twenties, but doing revisions on my book taught me that I’m still clinging to some of that baggage. It’s hard to bring acceptance to a task that involves so much acknowledgment of what’s wrong and commitment to change it, but I did my best, and I know you can, too!
Thank you for that excerpt. I admit I lean heavily on my Writer’s Group to do that kind of thinking for me, but I should cultivate that kind of awareness for myself.
Have a happy, safe Thanksgiving too! π
I’m thinking this level of self-awareness might help me even out the highs and lows that I experience with my writing. Again, back to the Neutral Witness. That seems a good place from which to write. π
Funny that you should quote from that book today: I just posted my review of the book at Suite 101 last night. Is it all right if I share the link with your readers here?
Yes, please do!!
After all, I’m reading this wonderful book because of (and with) you.
π
Thanks, Melodye! I get paid per view, so I hate to post it looking like I’m trying to generate cash for myself. But it’s a great book, and I recommend it to all my writing friends.
http://writingfiction.suite101.com/article.cfm/book_review_writing_begins_with_the_breath
It’s good that you mentioned the cash-per-click, in the interest of full disclosure. But I think your book review is insightful, honest, and well-written. With that in mind, I posted the link up top.
Thanks Melodye!
Thanks Melodye!
Funny that you should quote from that book today: I just posted my review of the book at Suite 101 last night. Is it all right if I share the link with your readers here?
Thanks for the reminder about self-awareness. There is a lot to being self aware.
Happy Thanksgiving to you.
We get a turkey this year. This country has them! π
Yes, it’s an expansive topic, isn’t it? I like that this book explores its depth and breadth.
Hurray for turkey! I like dark meat best, and you?
Yes, it’s an expansive topic, isn’t it? I like that this book explores its depth and breadth.
Hurray for turkey! I like dark meat best, and you?
A happy Thanksgiving to you, too! And thank you for the reminder to honor and celebrate strengths as well as to acknowledge weaknesses.
π
The difficult part for me is acknowledging my writing strengths. I’m still learning to live and breathe the life of a Neutral Witness…
How’s your writing coming?
Hey now, baking your own bread is no small feat! Kudos to you for that!
I like that excerpt quite a bit. It’s running around in my noodle and though there are a few things that I don’t quite agree with, I love the spirit of it.
Happy Thanksgiving to you too, my good friend. I hope that you too are blessed with all of life’s wonderful abundances too, Melodye!
You know me well, so it won’t surprise you when I tell you that I’d love to hear what’s “running around in your noodle” Which parts of that passage aren’t sitting right with you? Enquiring minds want to know….
I have an abundance of wonderful friends, you among them. Happy Thanksgiving, Kevin!
I think what was running around in my noodle was the bit about self-awareness coming from a place of non-judgment and honest. I read the implication to be one can really only be self-aware through non-judgment… and I don’t know that I necessarily agree with that. I think honesty is absolutely critical, but one can really only arrive at that honesty through judging one’s self. You have to lay bare all of your faults, flaws and the more negative aspects of yourself and judge yourself through those… just as you must expose all of the positive aspects and judge those as well. I think only through assessing and judging all of the positive and negative components of our inner selves can we really be self-aware. The way this is written, it almost reads to me like while you should acknowledge them, you should almost gloss them over in a way by not “judging” yourself specifically about your faults. I really believe that only through assessing and judging ourselves, can we really learn about ourselves, grow, evolve and be self-aware.
Thank you!
Thanks for posting this quote from my book. I’m glad it has been helpful to you! I’m finishing up a follow up book, THE WRITING WARRIOR, which Shambhala will publish in summer 2010. I am so grateful that you’re using the book in this manner. It’s more than I could hope for!
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Laraine Herring
Re: Thank you!
Laraine!!! I’m happy to see you here!!
Wishing we could talk in real-time…about writing, yoga, whatever. But I’m enjoying your book very much, and I will definitely watch for WRITING WARRIOR.
By the way, I see that you have a LiveJournal account. Hmmm, maybe you could stop by a little more often. π
Re: Thank you!
I have so many accounts … π I have to keep a whole e-mail folder w/them.
I have bookmarked your site though. I’m still trying to learn all this on-line stuff. I have figured out blogging and Facebook (sort of), but I’m hoping to spend the break (I teach full time) figuring more of the on-line networking out. I blog on blogspot, which was easy enough to figure out. It’s a brand new world! My husband’s kids text faster with their thumbs than I can type (& I”m a pretty fast typist)
I live in a rural part of AZ, so it’s hard to find community sometimes. I really appreciate getting the google alerts from people I’d never run into at the yoga studio here! π
Take good care,
Laraine
Re: Thank you!
I have so many accounts … π I have to keep a whole e-mail folder w/them.
I have bookmarked your site though. I’m still trying to learn all this on-line stuff. I have figured out blogging and Facebook (sort of), but I’m hoping to spend the break (I teach full time) figuring more of the on-line networking out. I blog on blogspot, which was easy enough to figure out. It’s a brand new world! My husband’s kids text faster with their thumbs than I can type (& I”m a pretty fast typist)
I live in a rural part of AZ, so it’s hard to find community sometimes. I really appreciate getting the google alerts from people I’d never run into at the yoga studio here! π
Take good care,
Laraine
Thank you!
Thanks for posting this quote from my book. I’m glad it has been helpful to you! I’m finishing up a follow up book, THE WRITING WARRIOR, which Shambhala will publish in summer 2010. I am so grateful that you’re using the book in this manner. It’s more than I could hope for!
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Laraine Herring
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